I was watching the highlights of the Australia Day ODI and in his analysis Tony Greig brought up the role club cricket has in making a strong national team.

Tony's argument can be summed up in an interview he did with the Guardian back in 2003:

"The problems with English cricket are not to do with the odd blunder by a captain or a lack of talent. The problem is that there is no meaningful amateur game. The sooner the ECB persuades the MCC to take total responsibility for the amateur game, and the sooner the MCC develops a format which allows a kid to work and still have an avenue to progress to international honours, the better.

"In Australia and South Africa it is possible to play a high standard of club and State cricket while at the same time working, and it is only if they play for the national side that they have to make a decision between the two. In England, a kid either chooses to earn money in a proper job or he has the boring business of playing second XI cricket and proving himself day in, day out. In this day and age that is just not a very attractive option."

The way I see this happening is to both allow amateurs to play first class cricket (with perhaps the top professionals playing in a regional tier) and have a much stronger club league format that feeds directly into the first class counties.

Your club can start this right now by simply taking a more professional approach. The stronger the club games gets the harder it will be for the ECB to ignore this as a concept.

Can this happen? I don't think the England has the culture to turn club cricket from a genteel summer pastime into a game where people take it semi-professionally and seriously.

But perhaps I'm wrong. Perhaps your club can start to turn things around this summer with a clearer approach to playing, practicing and winning.

Then maybe Tony's idea will be one step closer to reality.

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